2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Significance of hypoxia-responsive cancer stem cell markers in invasion and metastasis of oral cancer

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	16K11727
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Surgical dentistry
Research Institution	Kagoshima University
Principal Investigator	Hijioka Hiroshi 鹿児島大学, 医歯学域附属病院, 講師 (70305150)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	石田喬之鹿児島大学, 医歯学域附属病院, 助教 (20404501) 久米健一鹿児島大学, 医歯学域歯学系, 助教 (60650067) 濱田大治鹿児島大学, 医歯学域医学系, 助教 (30771480) 谷本昭英鹿児島大学, 医歯学域医学系, 教授 (10217151) 中村典史鹿児島大学, 医歯学域歯学系, 教授 (60217875)
Research Collaborator	Sugiura Tsuyoshi
Project Period (FY)	2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Keywords	口腔癌 / がん幹細胞 / 上皮間葉移行
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Cervical lymph node metastasis is the greatest prognostic factor in the treatment of oral cancer, and its control is essential for improving treatment outcome. For that purpose, it is necessary to elucidate the mechanism of metastasis. Recently, it has been suggested that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an important step in the process of metastasis, and the association between EMT and cancer stem cells (CSC) has been noted. In this study, we found that BRACHYURY and SOX2 synergistically promote cancer stemness in oral cancer cells. This finding points to the importance of gene or protein networks associated with BRACHYURY and SOX2 in the development and maintenance of the CSC phenotype.
Free Research Field	口腔癌
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	口腔癌の治療において頸部リンパ節転移は最大の予後因子であり、治療成績向上にはその制御が不可欠である。そのためには転移のメカニズムを解明する必要があるが、その詳細は未だ不明な点が多い。本研究において転移に必須であるEMTおよびがん幹細胞性の獲得、維持にBRACHYURYおよびSOX2が重要な役割を果たすことが明らかになり、これらを制御することで浸潤・転移を防ぐ新たな治療方法の開発に繋がることが期待できる。